The Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB) of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has called for a Bharat bandh (All India shut down) on April 26 against the killing of their cadres by Security Forces (SFs) in Chhattisgarh and Bihar during “Operation Prahar” and appealed to the masses for support, reports The Times of India on April 12. In a press communiqué issued by Sanket, the spokesperson of the ERB, of the CPI-Maoist has detailed the reasons for calling the bandh in the backdrop of statements issued by Union Home Minister (UHM) Amit Shah after the Chhattisgarh encounter. Blaming the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-supported Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government at the Centre for pushing the commoners to a “war-like situation” and targetting "sons of the soil", Sanket said "Operation Prahar", planned by the Centre, is not going to be successful as the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist cadres are ready. "There's formidable power in human capital and the masses. When they stand together for a cause, they are sure to win. This oneness is strengthened by Amit Shah's statement that Operation Prahar will continue unless all Maoists are destroyed. We challenge that his dreams will never come true," the statement read. "We want to open a new channel of development which will not speak of destruction and focus only on creativity," it added. Extending salute to the four cadres of Chhattisgarh-based People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), the armed group of Maoists, -- Odi Sunny, Padam Lakhma, Kovasi Badru and Nupa Suresh — who were killed in the fight with security forces in Bijapur and Sukma Districts of Chhattisgarh on April 3, the ERB blamed the Centre for the bloodbath. "More than 2,000 security men had lodged an attack on our PLGA in Jiragurem village, which was retaliated and 24 security men were killed, 31 were injured and one was captured unhurt. This was one among the series of attacks that we have been facing for years," Sanket said.
Criticising Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi's Government for imposing an unplanned lockdown during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic last year while "helping" big corporates to make huge profits, the ERB said, " Political parties in India have been protecting the interests of capitalists since Independence and the Modi government is no different. All its decisions have been in their favour which is evident from the rising fortunes of Adani and Ambani," the statement claimed. The ERB has also mentioned the names of four of its cadres in Bihar -- Amresh Singh Bhogta, Uday Paswan, Sita Bhuiyan and Shiv Pujan Yadav -- who were killed in the Gaya District of Bihar on March 16 by SFs and said that its PLGA in Chhattisgarh has avenged them.